Whispers From the Land of Nowhere
by Authorgirl12
Summary: All 17 year old Nonny Pirrucello wanted was to start over. But what he got was not at all what he'd hoped for. He hadn't wanted to move to a little town in the middle of nowhere and be forced to work at a nobody ranch. But little did he know of the mystical forces that were at work that sent Whispers From the Land of Nowhere.
1. Chapter 1 Welcome to the Land of Nowhere

Endless land. Hills rolled past for hours, and nothing seemed to change. Just grass. And hills. The occasional cow or wind orchard. Nothing much. The highway just went on forever, as if there was no end. The only interesting thing for miles was the random billboard that read 'Big Tasty Butts' with a picture of two cartoon pigs facing their rear ends toward every car that passed it, which probably didn't happen very often, considering there was no sign of civilization or human life anywhere. We were literally in the middle of nowhere. The land of Nowhere; a wasteland full of grass, hills, cows, wind turbines, and big tasty butts. It was a place that nobody wanted to be, more or less stranded in for several hours on end in an old and run down Volkswagen with your mom. If you wanted to drive yourself insane, that's the place that you'd go to do it. You would go nowhere.

"Come on, Nonny. Don't look so glum."

I glanced at her, not saying a word; not letting her know what I was thinking. I just stared at her, acting as if staring at her long enough might cause rays to come out of my eyes and bore into her skin. But it was obvious that that would never happen, which kind of disappointed me.

"What are you giving me that look for?" She asked, "You know that this move is for the best. To let you start over. To let us start over."

I stared at her for another moment, pondering hard about whether or not to speak; to waste my already barely used voice on her. I just finally rolled my eyes and turned to look out the window at the rolling hills once again, "Gosh, you sound like Norma Bates."

I could sense her rolling her eyes at me, knowing her well enough to know that that's how she'd react to a comment like that, "I'm being serious, Nonny. We really need this. Staying in LA would only make your… problem, worse. It would only make you remember what happened. Sometimes a new setting can change your mind set. It can really help."

"I don't have a problem, Mom." I remarked, trying to put attitude in my voice, which didn't seem to be working, considering my naturally monotonous voice, but it was worth a try anyway, "I just need a little time to get everything under control. That's all."

"It seemed like you needed a lot more than just a 'little time' last week when you-"

"Mom! I'm fine! I don't have a problem! Just concentrate on the road, would you?!" I snapped, not wanting her to even dare to finish that sentence. I usually didn't snap like that, but it was a really touchy subject for me, and she knew it. She knew it all too well, having learned it the hard way.

We were both silent for a moment, but she finally spoke up, "I'm sorry."

"Being sorry doesn't change what happened." I said, almost whispering. I wasn't even sure if she heard me, but if she did, she definitely got the message. She didn't say another word for a while.

After a couple silent hours of grass, hills, and all that, I was about to give in to my tiredness and fall asleep, when the sound of my mom's scream and sudden slam of the brakes threw me forward in my seat, slamming my head into the dash board. I rubbed my forehead in pain as it began to throb. So much for seat belts.

"I'm sorry, baby." She apologized, gently and caringly running her fingers through my hair. She then quickly faced forward and pressed her palm harshly into the center of the steering wheel, causing the car horn to blare loudly, "Hey, idiot! Get out of the road!"

In front of our car stood a man, almost like a deer in headlights. Well, he was in our headlights, so that analogy doesn't exactly work here. He was kinda tall. He had muscular arms, and a cowboy hat sat on top of his head, along with a goatee of sorts on his chin and his deep blue eyes stood out in the dim headlights. If I was a woman, I might've actually been attracted to him. But I was a dude… and straight. I mean, I have nothing against gays, but I'm just saying that I'm not one of them.

The man tried saying something, but his words were not audible from where we sat.

"Huh?!" Mom yelled, obviously not hearing him either.

The man walked around to the driver's side of the car so that we could hear him better, and Mom didn't hesitate to roll down her window.

"What in this world are you doing standing in the middle of the road?!" She asked, her voice being a couple of decibels too loud.

"I'm not standin' in the road, ma'am." He said with a kind smile on his face. He had a thick country accent and his voice was very deep, kinda like one of those no name country singers that you hear on the radio. Very awkward, yet mesmerizing at the same time.

"What do you mean?! I just almost ran you over! Are you drunk or something?! My son could have a concussion because of you!" She raged, flailing her arms angrily with several unnecessary hand gestures. All the man did was try not to laugh. I wanted to tell her that I most definitely didn't have a concussion, because I didn't hit my head nearly hard enough for that, but I decided not to interfere with her rampage. It was something that I knew better than to do. It was kind of common sense.

"Take a look for yourself." The man said, gesturing to the front of our car. Mom gave him the stink eye, then let her eyes venture to the front of the car where the man gestured, only to realize that there was no road. Her eyes then drifted a little to our left and past the man, only to see that the road was several inches to the left of our car. An embarrassed smile came onto her face, and I could tell that she was even blushing a little.

"I'm sorry, sir." She apologized, "It's kinda late, and we're both really tired. I guess I drifted off a little. My bad."

"Your bad?" I asked, "You could've gotten us killed."

"Yeah, but I didn't, now did I?" She remarked, with a pretty bad comeback if you ask me. She was never really good with that kind of stuff.

"Maybe you two should stop somewhere for the night." The man suggested, "Where you headed?"

"Marshallville, Kentucky?" Mom answered, as if asking for directions.

He chuckled heartily, and smiled warmly at her, "Well, you can't try to get somewhere if you're already there."

"You mean we're in Marshallville right now?" Mom asked, seeming relieved that she would finally be able to rest and stop driving. I mean, I don't know why she didn't just let me drive for a little while. I was 17. I had a license. It only made sense.

"Just about." The man answered, "City limits are just up the road a ways. What you coming to a little town like Marshallville for?"

"We're coming to live with my sister until we find a place of our own." Mom answered, "We could use a nice little town like Marshallville. From what my sister says, it's a nice place. Peaceful."

"Well, she ain't wrong." The man laughed, "Marshallville is definitely something."

Mom laughed half-heartedly, and scratched the back of her neck nervously, "She's not actually home tonight, but she will be in the morning, and we were just gonna find a motel or something to stay in for the night."

The man cracked up laughing as if that was the funniest thing that he'd ever heard in his life. I'd never heard anyone laugh like that before. It was really strange sounding, considering how deep his voice was, and it almost sounded like we was wheezing a little, almost as if he was a former smoker, and quit long ago, but the after effect still hung around him, forever cursing him for doing such a stupid thing. It was something that I'd heard far too many times.

"There ain't no motel within miles of here! You would need to drive for another three hours or so before you hit a motel!" He laughed, still acting as if it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard.

"Oh…" Mom whispered, seeming a little disappointed that she wouldn't be able to sleep in a bed that night, "I guess we'll have to just sleep in the car, or something, then."

I wanted to object, not wanting to sleep in that musty thing for even two seconds, but there didn't seem to be any other option. I just figured it was better than nothing. Nothing would've been worse.

"Now, missy." The man interrupted, calming down from his laughing fit, "Do you really want you and your son to sleep out here all night in this heat? That would be highly uncomfortable."

"What other choice do we have?" Mom asked as if talking to a vet about putting down an animal.

"How about the two of you come stay at my place for the night? Until your sister gets home. How's that sound?" He suggested, genuine caring in his voice.

"No, I wouldn't ask that of you." Mom refused, shaking her head. I could tell that she was holding back the real reason why she didn't want to stay with him. I'd be nervous to come home with a creepy lumberjack man, too. Who knows who he was or what he was capable of doing. I didn't blame her.

"It wouldn't be a problem, miss." He tried to persuade her. He then nodded toward me, "I've got a boy around his age. He'd enjoy having a friend around for the night. Granted, he's got plenty of 'em at school and such, but still. He wouldn't mind getting a new one."

Mom looked at me as if asking for my opinion. I just shrugged in response. I figured that our best bet was to figure out a little about him, and if his story didn't seem fishy, we could go home with him, but keep our guard up in case he tried anything. She seemed to read my mind.

"If you don't mind me asking, what might your name be?" Mom asked, seeming to be trying to sound as kind as she could.

"Cliff." The man answered, "Cliff Gordon. Live just up the road a few miles. Came down here to gather some wood for the bonfire in a couple 'a nights. Was just about to head on back before you folks came along and nearly squashed me like a potato." He seemed to be trying to hold back a laugh as he said that last part. I didn't see what was so funny about becoming a 'squashed potato' on the side of the road.

"Well, Mr. Gordon," Mom ventured, trying to find out more information about the dude, "Do you have a wife? Kids?"

"No ma'am." Cliff answered, almost as if he held pride in not having a significant other, "Just me and my boy. Always has been."

"You ever been married, Mr. Gordon?" Mom asked, leaning her arm on the open window and propping her chin on her fist. She seemed awfully interesting about whether or not this dude had a wife or not, but I was pretty sure that it wasn't because she was trying to hook up with him. I had a pretty good idea of what she was actually trying to do.

"Used to be. But that had to be 15 years ago." Cliff answered, letting his eyes wander away from us, as if memories that he didn't want to remember were all coming back in a flurry of sadness, forcing him to remember, "Miss her with all my heart. I'd give anything to have been in her place."

"Would you mind me asking what happened to her?" Mom asked, sounding genuinely interested and sympathetic for him, when I knew that she really wasn't. She was just trying to squeeze information out of him. It might've been obvious to me, but not to Cliff.

"She lost her battle to Cancer." He said, not making eye contact, "My boy says he barely remembers her, 'cuz he was just two years old when it happened. Breaks my heart thinkin' about it." He seemed as if he'd go into some deep depression if he had to talk about her any longer, so I nudged Mom with my elbow, trying to tell her to quit it with the questions, and she just looked at me as if she wasn't understanding what I was trying to tell her.

"Stop it with the questions." I whispered harshly, trying not to let Cliff hear me, but he appeared to be deep in a daydream, so he probably wouldn't hear anything anyway.

"I'm just trying to see if he's trustworthy. I don't want to follow some creeper home." She whispered back, nodding back at Cliff as she said 'creeper'.

I didn't respond. I just sighed agitatedly. I was tired, and I just wanted to get some sleep, and she was making it much more difficult than it should've been. I glared at her, and she seemed to get the message.

She rolled her eyes and turned to Cliff, "Um, sir?"

He blinked and stared at her, seeming dazed from coming out of his little trance, "Yes?"

Mom sighed and finally gave in to his offer, "As long as it's okay with you, we'll be more than happy if you'd allow us to stay at your home for the night."

He smiled then nodded, "Let me get the last of the wood into the truck, then I'll lead ya there."

Mom smiled half-heartedly and watched as Cliff walked toward the woods where a white pickup truck was visible through the darkness.

"Okay, here's the plan." She said as soon as he was out of ear shot, "I want you to be ready to run in case he tries anything. Don't try to wait for me, just get yourself out of there. Keep your phone on you and call the police when you get a safe distance away."

"Mom," I said, loosening my seat belt so I could face her, "Even if he does try anything –which he won't- I'm not going to leave you behind."

"I know I know." She said, "I just want to be prepared in case something does happen. You never know."

I tried so hard not to roll my eyes at her. I understood where she was coming from, but I just didn't think that this guy was a threat. It was logical to be cautious with mysterious cowboy lumberjack dudes that you met in the woods; she was doing the responsible thing. I just thought that she was being a little too cautious.

After a moment, we could see the truck pull out onto the road. Cliff honked his horn at us as if he thought that we hadn't seen him.

"Idiot." Mom mumbled under her breathe as she started up the car and pulled into the road, steading herself to follow Cliff down what soon became a gravel road.

"These woods are really creepy looking." Mom shivered as we slowly drove down the small road, "I feel like Slenderman is going to come out and kill us."

"I'm sure it's not as bad during the day." I tried reassuring her. That's how most forests were: fine during the day, creepy at night.

"I know." She agreed, "But we can't see very far through this darkness. There's no telling what's out there."

"I'm sure Slenderman is totally gonna come out of those woods and kill us." I mocked her, shaking my head.

"Nonny!" She exclaimed, slapping my arm playfully, "That's not funny!"

In front of us, Cliff turned left onto some sort of path into the woods.

"This doesn't seem like a murder movie at all." Mom said sarcastically, also turning onto the path.

I didn't reply, but instead shook my head. She always made sarcastic comments like that. Most of the time it was more like she was talking to herself, because I would never reply. I didn't reply to things that most people said to me. At least, not verbally.

Before long, I realized that the path we were driving on, wasn't a path; it was a drive way. It led around a bend until a large house came into sight. The building was illuminated by the internal lights of the home, making it look much more beautiful than it probably did in the daylight. The house looked very open, with several glass walls and large windows. The entire thing was made of wood like some sort of log cabin, just bigger and fancier. It looked oddly large for housing just two people. Then again, the amount of people living there had probably decreased over the years. It probably used to house many more people.

Cliff parked in front of the house, and mom pulled up next to him. She turned off the engine as we watched Cliff hop out of his truck.

"Remember the plan." Mom whispered, then climbing out of the car before I got a chance to argue. I groaned and got out, closing the door behind me.

"Welcome!" Cliff greeted us, acting like we were guests to a party that he was throwing, "I hope you find yourselves comfortable. Would you like any help with your things?"

"I think we'll just leave our 'things' in the car." Mom answered, "We'll be leaving in the morning, so there's no point in unpacking everything. Right, Nonny?"

I turned to her, seeing that she was just making stuff up; she still didn't trust him. She was still afraid that we'd have to leave in a hurry and didn't want to lose our stuff in the process. Plus, she was probably afraid that if we did stay, that he'd try going through our things or something.

I nodded, just deciding to play along.

"Alright, then." Cliff shrugged, "If that's what you want. Just remember; as long as you're here, my home is your home."

He smiled warmly and climbed the front porch steps. Mom and I followed behind him.

He opened the front door which was apparently unlocked, then gestured for us to come in, "Welcome to my home."

Author's Note: WABAM! What do you think so far? Good new story? Bad new story? Tell me what you think! This story is going to be a little different than my others, but I hope you guys like it just as much! I know that not much happened in this chapter, despite the fact that it's pretty long. It was very talky. For this story, I've decided to tweak with Nonny's personality a bit. He's still going to be the quiet and monotonous Nonny that you all know and love, but as you may have noticed in this chapter, I've decided to add a bit of ironic sass in his personality. I put a bit of thought into it, and I figured that he's older now, and that sometimes people change as they get older. So obviously he's still very quiet and stuff, but when he does talk, he might be a little sassy from time to time. I just thought that I'd try that out.

Where are the other characters, you ask? Do not worry! They shall be coming soon! But for right now, what do you think of this Cliff dude? Do you trust him? Do you think he's telling the truth, or are Nonny's mom's predictions about him correct? I GUESS YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE.

Quick shoutouts to Princess Caveia1234, AmberStone12, and Passwordis0.'14 for being my BBFs and for supporting the idea for this story! As you all may know, counting this story, I currently have 3 BG stories in the works (not counting ANL. It's finished ya know). I'm considering an idea about making a FOURTH story. I know that may be a bit much, but I think I could handle it. I keep on getting super good ideas and I don't feeling like waiting to start on them XD. So tell me what you think! But that's all I have for this chapter! Adios for now, people! Peace!


	2. Chapter 2: Sorry for Judo Flipping You

If I thought that the outside of the house was beautiful, then I was wrong. It was nothing compared to the inside.

Like I had suspected, it was very open and spacious. You could see out into the dark forest through the full wall windows, and the wooden interior walls that weren't glass made the home look as if it had been purposely made to look old fashioned with a modern twist.

As we stepped into the house, we were greeting by the sight of a large living room with a gray colored sectional along with a woven chair of sorts that had floral cushions on the seat and back. Across from the sectional was a large flat screen TV mounted on one of the glass walls. A large kitchen with a bar of sorts and dining table were visible on the other side of the open room. In the back corner of the room was a spiral staircase that most likely lead to the upstairs of the home.

"Your home is beautiful." Mom mused, almost as if reading my thoughts.

"Why thank you, ma'am." Cliff laughed, "Built it myself."

Mom seemed as if she was about to make some snide remark about who knows what, but thankfully she was interrupted.

"Dad?! Is that you?!"

"Yeah! It's me!" Cliff yelled towards the stairs, "Come on down for a second! We have guests!"

"That your son?" Mom asked, eye balling the stairs. She asked it as if she thought that it was actually Cliff's partner that was supposed to help kill us or something. I thought it was pretty obvious who it actually was, considering the fact that he referred to Cliff as 'dad'.

"The one and only." Cliff answered with pride in his voice. He obviously thought very highly of his child.

The sound of footsteps came from upstairs as a teenage boy appeared from the spiral staircase. I could almost immediately see the resemblance. They shared the same deep blue eyes, along with several other similar facial features. He appeared to be around my age, just like Cliff had said. The thing that threw me off was the boy's hair. It was pretty normal; done up in some sort of quiff. But the thing that caught me off guard was the fact that it was BLUE. Very strange choice of color.

"Who are they?" The boy asked, acting as if he thought that we couldn't hear him.

"I actually didn't catch their names, but-" Cliff started, but what interrupted by his son.

"You invited these people into our house and you don't even know they're names?!" He shouted in an aggravated tone, "They could be killers for all we know!"

"Gee thanks. We're only standing right here." I said sarcastically, crossing my arms.

"Sorry about him." Cliff apologized, "He overreacts to things sometimes."

"Overreact?!" The boy exclaimed, "You invited complete strangers into our house!"

"I invited them to stay with us tonight because they have nowhere to stay." Cliff tried explaining, "They just need somewhere to sleep until her sister gets home in the morning. It'll only be one night."

The boy glared at him for a moment, boring into his father's soul with his eyes, then huffed in frustration, "Could you at least learn their names first?"

Cliff sighed then turned to us. Mom answered before he even had time to ask the question.

"My name is Kathy." She said with a fake smile on her face, "Kathy Pirrucello. And this is my son Nonny."

The boy stared at us for a moment, then nodded as if he was satisfied, "I guess you're trustworthy. For now at least."

"Enough of that." Cliff scolded, "These are nice people, and I don't want to leave a bad impression."

The boy rolled his eyes, shaking his head and scoffing. He acted as if his father did this kind of thing all of the time. I didn't blame him for reacting that way. Parents could do some pretty stupid things sometimes.

"Pardon his rudeness." Cliff apologized once again, "He gets like this sometimes. He's actually a nice kid once you get to know him."

"I'm sure he is." Mom smiled. She didn't actually care. I could tell. She was just trying to get him to shut up so she could go to sleep. I could see the tiredness in her eyes and hear it in her voice. She just wanted sleep.

"I guess I better introduce you so y'all can get to sleep." Cliff said, putting his arm around his son's shoulder, "This is my son, Gil."

"That's a unique name." Mom smiled, "I've always liked unique names."

"Tell me about it." I mumbled just loud enough for her to hear me. Trust me, I like my name. For whatever reason, I found it entertaining for teachers to never be able to pronounce it, and family members never remembering how to spell, and people just overall not being able to remember it for the simple fact that it was weird. I'll admit it. I have a weird name. But I still like it. I always have.

"Your father gave you that name." Mom scolded. She acted like I didn't know that. She knew that I knew that, yet she constantly reminded me. It got annoying sometimes.

"Now, we only have one guest room, so you two will have to share it, unless-" Cliff started, but mom interrupted him.

"Oh, that's fine." She laughed, "It'll probably be best if we stay together. We're very close."

She looked at me for back up. She still didn't trust them. I wasn't sure if she'd wanted to stay together for my sake, or her sake. Probably a little bit of both. I couldn't help but I agree with her.

I nodded, "That'd probably be the best idea."

Cliff shrugged, "That's fine by me."

Mom grabbed onto my hand, then smiled at Cliff, "Would you mind showing us to our room? We're very tired and have had a very long day."

Cliff turned to Gil and motioned towards to stairs, "Why don't you show them to their room and let them settle in for the night?"

Gil nodded for us to follow him, and started heading towards the stairs, "Follow me."

...

The room was very cold. It was very odd considering how hot it was outside. But the room had no windows. Just cold walls with a very empty feeling to them.

I couldn't tell if mom was asleep or not, but I also couldn't tell how long we'd been laying there. 1 hour? 2 hours? I didn't know. The only thing I knew was that I couldn't fall asleep. I didn't know what it was, but something was pulling on my mind to stay awake. I was so tired, 'awake' was the last thing that I wanted. Although, it seemed like that was what I was going to get.

I don't want to say that I couldn't sleep because I was afraid, which I wasn't. It was more like I was unsure of the house and the people in it, and my brain was refusing to sleep until I made sure everything was safe. Not just for me, but for my mother.

So, slowly and quietly, I sat up and slipped out of bed, careful not to wake her up. I crept across the room to the door, looking back to back sure she was still asleep.

I felt like a small child snooping around on Christmas, but I didn't care. This was definitely necessary.

I slowly opened the door, trying to keep it from squeaking too loudly. I slipped into the dark hallway and closed the door behind me, turning the knob to keep it quiet. I looked down both ends of the hallway, having no clue what I was doing. The sound of snoring echoed through the upper level, which meant that Cliff was asleep... unless the snoring was coming from Gil, which I highly doubted.

I didn't know what I was going to do, but this was unlike me. The normal Nonny would've gotten into bed and passed out just like that. But something was different. And whatever it was, I didn't like it one bit. I kept on going, though.

After making my way down the squeaky spiral staircase, I looked around in the kitchen and living room, looking for anything that might've been suspicious in any way, but I didn't find anything. It seemed like a normal house. Well, as normal as a huge and fancy cabin in the woods could get. I was starting to feel like I could trust these people.

I headed back upstairs and into the main hallway, stopping dead in my tracks as soon as I did: my bedroom door was jarred open. I'd closed it, hadn't I? Had mom gotten up? The snoring hadn't stopped as long as I'd been up, because I could hear it from downstairs, so that meant that Cliff was still sound asleep. Mom must have gotten up or something... hopefully.

I slowly made my way to the door. If there was someone in there, I was unarmed and I wouldn't be able to protect myself. Unless I used my judo skills from, like, third grade, but I hadn't used them in years, so my instincts would most likely be a little too slow. I peered into the dark room, taking a second to let my eyes adjust to the darkness. Everything was as I'd left it. Mom laid asleep in the bed seemingly untouched. She hasn't moved positions since I'd left. If it wasn't her, then who opened the door? That's when it happened.

An arm went around my neck and pulled me back, grasping onto my hair to keep me from turning around. Using the instincts that I didn't know that I had, and shoved the person backwards and slammed their back into the wall. I grabbed their arm and flipped them over my shoulder, sending them landing on their back. I shoved my forearm into their neck to keep them down. I was about to yell for help when I realized who it was.

"Gil?"

"Who did you think it was?!" He spat, squirming under my grip. He didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

"What are you doing?!" I exclaimed, not standing down.

"I thought you were going to try to hurt us!" He struggled to say between breaths. Apparently I'd knocked the wind out of him.

"You're the one who attacked me!"

"YOU'RE the one who judo flipped me!"

"BECAUSE you attacked me!"

"Well then what were you doing up? Huh?" He asked as if he was suspecting something.

"Going to the bathroom." I lied. I didn't want to let him know the real reason.

"There's not a bathroom downstairs."

"That's why I came back up here."

"You're lying." He choked. I realized I was pushing a little too hard on his neck, and I let go. That's also when I realized that he was telling the truth. He didn't trust me just as much as I didn't trust him. He wanted you protect his family. Just like I did. I hadn't thought about it like that.

"Fine." I admitted, standing up and offering him my hand. He hesitantly took it and I pulled him to his feet.

"I was looking around to make sure it was safe here." I sighed, "To make sure that you guys were trustworthy."

"You don't trust us?" He asked, sounding more shocked than he did offended.

I shook my head. I couldn't help but notice that he seemed almost relieved.

"I thought you guys were going to try to kill us in our sleep or something." He laughed, "I tried to check your room to see if I was right, but you weren't there. That's when I guess I got kinda scared..."

"You don't think I was freaked out when I came back and the door was open after I'd closed it?" I asked.

He shook his head and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "I guess I didn't think about that."

We stood in silence for an awkward moment before he spoke up, "I'm sorry I attacked you."

"And I'm sorry I judo flipped you." I apologized back.

"Yeah. You're going to have to teach that to me some day." He laughed. He said it as if he knew that we'd know each other for a long time.

"It's not as easy as it looks." I admitted, "It took me just about all of the third grade to learn it."

He laughed, "Well then you better clear your schedule, 'cuz it'll probably take me even longer."

We laughed, (Well, he laughed, and I just kinda gave a half hearted fake laugh. Laughing doesn't come to me very easily) and I actually felt comfortable for the first time since we'd left L.A. Had I actually just made a friend?

"Well, I better get some sleep." He sighed, "I've got a big day tomorrow."

I gave him a questioning look.

"There's a bonfire tomorrow night." He answered, "My dad and I always help set up and it pretty much takes all day and all of our energy, so a lot of sleep is necessary the night before."

I nodded, "But your dad said that the bonfire was in a couple of days."

"Did he?" He asked, looking back towards his father's room, "Well, he meant tomorrow... probably. My dad gets confused sometimes."

I nodded. Cliff definitely came off as a confused person. It seemed to me that it was more like Gil was raising him, and not the other way around like it should've been.

"Are you staying in Marshallville, or are you just passing through?" He asked, randomly changing the subject.

"We're definitely staying." I answered, "It's not like we have anywhere else to go. My aunt lives here and she's pretty much the only family we have left."

He nodded, seeming almost disturbed by this, then brightened up real fast, "Well, if you have time, then maybe you guys should stop by the bonfire tomorrow. It's super fun."

I shook my head, turning down his offer, "No, I don't think my mom would enjoy that. Big crowds kinda make her anxiety flip out a bit."

"Well you can come with me and my friends." He suggested, seeming almost excited, "If you want, that is."

I stared at him for a moment, then nodded slowly, "I'll think about it."

He smiled, seeming satisfied by my answer, "Well, Imma go back to sleep now. You should too, uhh..."

He was asking for my name. It didn't surprise me that he didn't remember it. Most people don't when they first meet me.

"Nonny." I answered.

He nodded as if he remembered now, "Yeah yeah that's right. Nonny. Cool name."

I'd heard a lot of things to describe my name, none of them good, but I'd never heard 'cool'. I don't know why, but I could tell that he really meant it. He wasn't just saying that to be nice.

"Well, goodnight Nonny." He smiled, seeming impressed with himself for being able to pronounce my name.

I nodded in response, and we turned in opposite directions, heading to our own rooms. I definitely felt a lot more comfortable sleeping in that house now. That something that had been pulling on my mind to stay awake was gone, and I felt like I could finally sleep. I was out almost immediately after getting back into bed, being more tired than I thought I had. I was comfortable with that house, although I definitely was not comfortable with Marshallville. Not at all. But I wouldn't have to deal with that yet. Not that night. That night was only step one. And I had a lot of steps ahead of me. And I mean A LOT.

Authors Note: Heyyyyyyy people! How be you? I be good, thanks for asking XD. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! FILLER ALERT. Lol. I will be updating this story more than the others this month in honor of NOONA MONTH. "But this isn't a Noona story!" You say? OH YES IT IS. IT IS SO VERY A NOONA STORY. You'll figure that out very soon XD. Any of you may participate in Noona Month if you wish!

In case you're wondering, I will be updating my other stories this month along with a new one, but specifically this story! In case you didn't already know, next month will be Doby Month (Deema and Goby)! I'll have to figure out something to do for that, though... but it's still June so I don't have to worry about it quite yet!

Idk why, but I want you guys to predict what you think is going to happen! I'm interested to hear what you think!

Quick shoutouts to my girls! You know who you are ;). Love you guys!

Well, that's it for now! I'll see you in the next chapter! Adios for now people! Peace!


	3. Chapter 3: Night of the Living Pancakes

"PANCAKES!"

I jolted forward in bed as my eyes flashed open. I was breathing heavily and sweating like crazy as if I'd had a nightmare. But I didn't remember having any dreams that night, which was strange. I usually either had some sort of really weird dream that made absolutely no sense, or an extremely horrible nightmare that could make a grown man cry, but that night, there had been nothing.

With there being no windows in the room, it was still dark, but light streamed in from the hallway through the door, which was cracked open. At least, I was pretty sure the that's where the light was coming from. I couldn't see very well without my glasses. As the eye doctor said, I was 'legally blind'.

I reached over to the night stand, my hands being really shaky from my phantom nightmare, and felt around for my glasses. I found them, and put them on. Like I had suspected, the door was open, and my mother was no where to be seen. There was a second blanket on me that hadn't been there the night before. It appeared to be hand woven, and for some reason, I couldn't tell what color it was. I had no clue how it'd gotten there.

I pushed both blankets off of me and uneasily got out of bed. I felt really shaken up, and my legs were weak as I struggled to walk. I had to of had a nightmare. I couldn't think of a better explanation for why I was feeling that way. I managed to steady myself as I got to the door. I looked back at the room. Was it just me, or did the room seem... colorless? I just shook my head and pushed the thought aside.

"Good morning, honey!" Mom greeted me as I came down the stairs. She seemed oddly happy as she approached me, a mug of coffee in her hands. She was fully dressed and must've taken a shower, because her hair looked damp. I must've had a troubled look on my face, because the smile almost immediately wiped off of her face as she saw me, "Everything alright?"

I shook my head, "Did I seem to be having any... nightmares last night?"

She frowned, then shook her head, "No. If you did, you didn't show it. Why? Are you having nightmares again?"

I glanced at Cliff, who stood at the stove flipping pancakes. He watched us as if he found our conversation interesting. I kind of felt embarrassed that mom had mentioned my nightmares. I didn't want Cliff -or anyone else- to know about them. About two months ago, they'd gotten really bad for about three weeks. I'd wake up every night screaming and shaking, and it eventually started to get out of hand. I'd claw at my skin in my sleep, causing myself to bleed, and occasionally pull hair out of my head. The doctors almost immediately linked it with depression, which didn't make any sense, because I didn't feel depressed, not at all. But they still prescribed depression medicine. I still take it everyday, not because I want to, but because I have to. It seemed to be working, though, because I hadn't had a single nightmare since.

But the thing that confused me were the nightmares themselves. They didn't make any sense, but they scared me to death. There was a girl with flowing dark hair and glowing purple eyes. She covered her ears and screamed, random objects flying through the air around her. The ground was turning gray around her. The worst part was that I couldn't see her face. Besides the glowing eyes, it was just a blur. She seemed a mixture of angry and upset, as she took out her rage on whoever -or whatever- it was that made her feel that way. She didn't seem to be taking it out on me, though. It seemed more like she was trying to protect me from something. Yet for some reason, I was terrified of her.

Standing there in the kitchen, I shook the images away. I didn't feel like having a melt down thinking about it.

"Nonny?" Mom asked, "Are you okay?"

I blinked and looked at her, "What?"

"I thought you said you were done with the blackouts." She said, feeling my forehead as if checking for a fever.

"But I didn't blackout." I shook my head, gently pushing her hand away.

"Don't you think staring off into space with a blank expression and not responding to anything anyone says for two whole minutes counts as a blackout?" Cliff asked, placing a large plate of pancakes on the dining table.

I looked at mom, and she just nodded. Had I really had a blackout? I used to have them all of the time. It started when I was little, and it was always a normal thing for me to have one at least once a week. I'd never pass out or anything, but I'd blank out completely for several minutes. I would never notice what was happening until after it was over. They'd gone away completely when I started taking the medicine. It was strange to suddenly have one now.

"Have you been taking your medicine?" Mom asked, seeming shaken up by this.

"Of course." I nodded, "Last night before we went to sleep."

"It's true." Cliff chimed in, "He came down here askin' where the cups were. Said he needed to take his medicine or somethin'."

Mom nodded, seeming to be trying to process this.

"Gilligan!" Cliff suddenly yelled really loud up the stairs, "Get down here! It's time for breakfast!"

"His name is short for Gilligan?" Mom asked, trying not to laugh.

"Nah." Cliff chuckled, "It's just Gil. But teachers always be askin' if that's what his name is short for, and it annoys him to death, so I call him that sometimes to mess with him."

Mom nodded awkwardly, "Uh huh."

Gil then came hopping down the stairs like a little kid, fully dressed, "What's for breakfast?"

"Pancakes." Cliff answered happily, as if this excited him.

"'Sup, Neil?" Gil asked as he walked past me, patting my back.

"It's Nonny." I corrected.

"Dude, I'm gonna have to come up with a nickname for you, 'cuz there's no way I'll remember that." He laughed.

I just rolled my eyes at him. He'd catch on eventually.

"Why don't you go get dressed, sweety?" Mom said to me, "I put some clothes in our room."

I nodded and headed upstairs. She'd put a pair of my clothes, my toothbrush, and a comb on the dresser. I quickly got dressed and combed my hair. It took me a few minutes of looking into random rooms upstairs to find the bathroom, but I eventually found it. I brushed my teeth using their nasty anti-cavity toothpaste, and quickly rinsed to get the awful taste out of my mouth. I looked up and into the mirror at my reflection. I didn't have a problem with my looks. I wasn't ugly or anything. But for whatever reason, I didn't like looking at my reflection. I couldn't help but feel self conscious when I did. I'd gotten used to seeing myself with my current glasses ever since my old ones broke a couple of years before. These ones were the so called 'hipster glasses'. I hadn't opted for them, but mom had insisted that I 'looked cute' in them. So I was stuck. I'd actually kinda started to like them. They suited me.

I ran my fingers through my fiery red hair. I wasn't sure what I felt about my hair, really. I personally didn't have a problem with it, but people always made fun of me and claimed that I had no soul, because I was a 'ginger'. The fact that I was quiet and seemingly emotionless at times didn't help at all. It also didn't help that when my mom was pregnant with me, she decided to take a trip to Ireland, saying 'oh, I've still got time.' Yeah, well I was born premature. In Ireland. The freckles and green eyes didn't make it any better, either. I was the perfect definition of a leprechaun. That totally didn't fuel any kind of bullying at all.

Realizing that I had been taking forever in the bathroom staring at myself in the mirror, which totally wasn't like me, I went back to our room, put my shoes on, then headed back downstairs.

The others had literally just sat down to eat, and there was now sausage, bacon, coffee, and orange juice on the table along with the pancakes.

"There he is!" Mom said happily as I approached them. She was seated on the left side of the table next to Cliff. Gil pulled out the chair next to him and patted it as if inviting me to come and sit.

I sat down awkwardly as everyone started putting food on their plates. I just held my hands in my lap and stared at my plate.

"You having a staring contest with your plate or something?" Gil laughed, taking a bite of his bacon.

"Honey, eat something." Mom told me.

"I'm not hungry." I said quietly.

"Nonny, you know I can't understand you when you mumble." She said, pouring more coffee into her mug.

"I'm. Not. Hungry." I said a little louder, over enunciating every word over dramatically so that she could definitely hear me.

"Don't get sassy with me, young man." She scolded, glaring at me almost angrily, "You need to eat."

I just glared at her, and apparently my expression frightened Gil, because he scooted his chair away from me a few inches.

"Here, would you like some orange juice?" Cliff suggested, holding up the pitcher which contained just that.

I glared uneasily at the pitcher as mom answered for me, "He's allergic to oranges."

Cliff nodded and set down the pitcher, "How about some coffee?"

"He doesn't drink coffee." She shot back.

"Apple juice?" He suggested, gesturing towards the fridge.

She smiled wickedly at him, "Allergic."

"Milk?"

"Lactose intolerant."

Cliff seemed to be getting frustrated. Mom laughed and I realized what she was doing: she was trolling him. I mean, everything she was saying was true, but she was making a game out of it. She still didn't trust him, and she was using my allergies and distastes against him to entertain herself. I have to say, though, it was pretty entertaining. Even Gil seemed to be trying not to laugh at his father's frustration.

"What does the boy drink, then?!" Cliff exclaimed, "He cain't be allergic to EVERYTHANG!"

Mom and Gil burst out laughing, and I even smirked a bit.

"What's so funny?" Cliff asked, "Am I being bamboozled?"

"Bamboozled?" Mom asked between laughs, causing them to laugh even more, "What kind of a word is 'bamboozled'?!"

"It's Cliff Gordon talk! That's what it is!" Gil laughed, shaking his head.

After several minutes of laughter and frustration, the three of them managed to calm themselves down as I just sat there awkwardly and watched.

"Oh gosh, I haven't laughed that much in who knows how long." Mom sighed.

"It wasn't even that funny!" Gil exclaimed, still trying to get his laugh under control.

"Come on, son. Finish eating so we can head into town to help set up for the bonfire. The earlier we get there, the better." Cliff told Gil, seeming embarrassed that they'd been laughing at him.

"Told you it was today." Gil whispered to me, smirking as he did.

I smirked back and shook my head as if saying 'I never said you were wrong'.

"When did you two get so friendly?" Mom asked, taking a bite of her pancakes.

"Last night." Gil answered, "We got to talking after you guys fell asleep." He wasn't telling the entire story, but it was probably the smart thing to do. They didn't need to know about our little... conflict.

"You left the room?" Mom asked me, not seeming very happy about this.

"He had to go to the bathroom." Gil answered for me, "I was still up, so I showed him where it was. After that we talked for a while before going to sleep. I invited him to come to the bonfire tonight."

"Oh no no." Mom laughed awkwardly, "That won't be necessary. Nonny doesn't do well with large crowds."

"Large crowds don't bother me." I insisted, but she shot me a glare. She was nervous about something, but I couldn't tell what.

"We won't have time for it anyway." She stated, "We'll be... busy."

"Doing what?" I asked. As far as I knew, we didn't have any plans.

"Stuff." She shot back quickly, giving me a look that told me to shut up, which wasn't difficult for me at all.

"Stuff." Cliff stated blandly, "Well, if you find some spare time while doing your 'stuff', I suggest that you come by. It's a mighty good time there and I think y'all would enjoy it."

Mom nodded as if she had absolutely no interest in what he was saying, "Uh huh. Yeah, we'll think about it."

She wasn't going to think about it.

"Nonny, eat." She told me harshly, concentrating on her food as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

I just crossed my arms and slumped in my chair. I wasn't going to eat, no matter how many times she told me to, and she knew that. I was usually a bottomless pit when it came to eating; I could eat all day. But I just wasn't hungry that morning.

There was suddenly a weird buzzing sound, and for a moment, I thought there was a bee in the room. But when mom pulled out her phone and looked at her screen, I realized that she was getting a call, and there was definitely no bee.

"Excuse me for a moment." Mom smiled apologetically, "I need to take this."

She got up and walked up the stairs, disappearing into the upstairs hallway.

"Was it just me, or did her phone sound like a bee?" Gil asked, seeming a bit shaken by this.

I nodded.

"Good, because bees freak me out." He laughed, "I'm seriously allergic to them. You do NOT want to be there if I get stung by a bee."

I nodded, "Well, looks like we've all got our share of weird allergies."

"You're allergic to orange juice and apple juice. That's pretty weird." He agreed, continuing to eat his food. Was he on his fifth pancake?

"Actually, it's oranges and apples. Plus a lot of other things which are ten times more ridiculous." I shook my head, staring down at my empty plate.

He seemed to be about to ask what other things, but the sound of screaming interrupted him.

We all jumped out of our seats and turned to see Mom running down the stairs screaming like a little girl. She ran and jumped on top of the table, continuing to scream. A large orange and white dog bounded down the stairs and barked angrily at her.

"No Bubba! Sit!" Gil yelled at the dog. It immediately obeyed and sat, not making another sound.

"Good boy." Gil commended, patting the dog's head.

"GOOD boy?!" Mom exclaimed, not moving from her spot on the table. I realized that I'd stepped in front of her as if trying to protect her, and she'd thrown her arms around me and had a ninja grip on my shirt. She was basically using me as a human shield.

"He just chased me through the house!" She yelled frantically, "How is he a good boy?!"

"He doesn't usually do that." Gil shrugged, "You must've done something to tick him off."

"I didn't do anything!" She squeaked, "I didn't even see him until he tried to kill me!"

"He wasn't trying to kill you." Gil said in an offended tone, "He just doesn't know you. He was probably scared."

"HE was scared?!" She exclaimed, still not letting go of my shirt, "How do you think I felt?!"

"Let's just calm down." Cliff said calmly, "BP didn't mean any harm. He's just a dog that's protective of his family. That's all. Now get off my table."

Mom glared at him, then reluctantly stepped off of the table, still hiding behind me as if she was afraid the dog would try to attack her again.

"I'm sorry, Ms. P." Gil apologized, kneeling next to the dog and petting it lovingly, "Bubble Puppy is a great dog. He isn't usually like this."

"His name is 'Bubble Puppy'?" Mom asked, glaring at the animal questionably.

"Yeah." Gil laughed, "I was five when I named him. I don't know what I was thinking."

"It was cuz he liked playing with the bubbles from the bubble maker doo-hicky." Cliff chuckled.

Gil nodded, "He still does."

"So, you've had him for 12 years?" Mom asked, finally coming out from behind me.

"He was just a pup when we first adopted him." Cliff answered, "Born just the week before. Gil fell in love with him the minute he laid eyes on him. He had to have him. He's now a very treasured member of the family."

Mom nodded slowly, then turned to me, changing the subject, "Anyway, that was Aunt Rebecca on the phone. She said that her flight was cancelled and she won't be getting here until at least tomorrow afternoon. That means that we have to find somewhere to stay until then."

"Well, you can just stay here another night!" Cliff suggested.

"Yeah! That'd be awesome!" Gil agreed, standing up from his spot on the floor. He finally seemed happy to have us there.

Mom glanced at me uneasily as if asking for my opinion. I just shrugged like usual.

She turned back to Cliff, "I don't know if I could ask that of you. We've already caused too much trouble."

"Oh, no. You haven't been any trouble at all." Cliff insisted, "We enjoy having y'all here."

"Totally!" Gil nodded, "It's cool to have someone to talk to besides my dad sometimes."

Cliff glared at him.

"Not that I don't like talking to my dad!" He corrected himself, laughing uneasily, "I just like having some... variety."

Cliff nodded as if he was satisfied with that, then turned to mom, "Whad'ya say?"

Mom sighed reluctantly, "I guess staying one more night won't hurt..."

There was another reason besides not trusting them for why she didn't want to stay there. I could usually tell what she was thinking or feeling because I just knew her that well, but I couldn't quite tell why she was so eager to get out of that house. She would've usually been happy to have a nice place to stay in a situation like this, but there was something that she wasn't showing. Something important.

"Does that mean that you guys can go to the bonfire?!" Gil asked excitedly, acting like a squirrel hopped up on energy drinks.

"I'm assuming that the 'stuff' that you had to do is now cleared." Cliff laughed.

Mom huffed. She knew he was right. She just didn't want to admit it. She always hated when stuff worked out like that.

"I guess so." She sighed, "Where's this bonfire thing?"

"You can ride with us." Cliff suggested, "We should get going, though. We don't want to be late."

"Yes!" Gil exclaimed, "Come on! Let's go!"

He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the front door, Cliff followed behind, chuckling at his son's excitement.

Mom groaned and reluctantly followed, "This is going to be a long day."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey hey! I was going to make this chapter a lot longer, but I figured that'd be a little too much for you guys. So this is what came out XD. FILLER ALERT. Anyway, I don't have much else to say. So, I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next time! Adios for now, people! Peace!


	4. Chapter 4: I Meet the Bæ

Cliff's truck smelled like beef jerky.

As we drove down the gravel road through the middle of nowhere Marshallville, Gil would not shut up. He just kept blabbing on and on about who knows what. He said many things about his friends and how I was going to love them. They sounded like great people from how he described them. It must've been nice.

Mom just sat in the front seat and ignored everything that Cliff said to her. She seemed to be completely uninterested in what he was saying, but he was clueless. He just kept talking. And talking. AND TALKING. Jabbering must've run in the family, because both of the Gordons would not shut their mouths for two seconds. I was relieved when we finally arrived at our destination. Although, that didn't seem to shut them up very well.

"How is this a bonfire?" Mom asked as we stepped out of the truck.

"Aw man." Gil complained, "They already have everything set up."

I was pretty shocked by what I saw. Giant colorful canopies, booths, games, workers, a giant Ferris Wheel, small rides, big rides, a huge barn, food stands, drink stands, people hanging up lights, performers practicing their routines, just about anything you could imagine. It was basically a full on carnival.

"I've never seen anything like this before." I mused, gaping at the scene before me.

"We do it every year." Cliff explained, "Just about everyone in town comes. It's a blast every time. Ya see that barn over yonder?"

He pointed to the large barn. Mom and I nodded in response.

"There's a hoedown that goes in there all night. People may come and go as they like. All of it is free of cost." He seemed to glow with happiness as he explained this. I didn't blame him, though. It all sounded more fun than anything I'd ever done.

"But why do you call it a bonfire?" Mom asked, still not seeming interested in anything else he'd been saying.

"You'll see in a minute." Cliff chuckled, then turning to his son, "Gil, take them into the barn. See if any of them folks need help setting up the hoedown. Then come back and help me and the boys unload the firewood."

"Will do." Gil agreed, starting to head towards the barn, "Follow me, guys."

He led us through the carnival, which obviously wasn't open to the public quite yet, and I couldn't help but feel more amazed with every second that went by. It was all just so incredibly jaw dropping. These people obviously put a lot of work into it. I knew that I'd be even more amazed when it was up and running.

"Sup, ladies?" Gil asked a random group of 4 women that appeared to be in their thirties and forties. They were gathered outside of what looked like a funnel cake stand as if they had just finished working on something.

"Hello, Gil." One of them greeted him kindly.

"Who are your friends?" Another asked, nodding toward me and mom.

"This is Kathy and her son Nonny." Gil answered, gesturing toward us as he said our names, "They just moved into town and are staying with me and my dad for the time being."

"Well that's awful nice of you." A third smiled warmly.

"Do you need help with anything?" He asked, as if he'd be willing to drop everything that he was doing in order to help them.

"Actually, we could use an extra hand." The first woman admitted, "We're not sure if we'll be able to finish the funnel cake batter on time."

"I love funnel cake." Mom randomly blurted, "I used to make it for my husband all of the time."

"Well, then maybe you wouldn't mind lending a hand?" The fourth woman asked, "We could use an experienced baker."

Mom grimaced uneasily, glancing at me, "I'm not sure..."

"Mom, it's fine." I said quietly, nudging her toward them, "I don't mind."

She gave me another uneasy look, then sighed, "I guess a little help wouldn't hurt anyone."

"Come on!" The third women exclaimed excitedly, gesturing for mom to join them, "We've got so much to show you!"

Mom turned to me before going to her new friends, "Call me if anything happens."

I nodded as she followed the 4 woman to behind the stand.

"C'mon, let's get going." Gil said to me.

I knew that mom was nervous about separating from me, but I also knew that she never really got to be around other women her age, so this would be good for her. She was going to have a good time.

"The teens usually work on setting up the hoedown." Gil explained as we entered the large barn, "They always try to get me to join them, but I can't, because my dad wants me to 'be a man' and help set up the bonfire."

"I thought this whole thing was a bonfire." I thought out loud.

"No no no." He laughed, "Once night falls, we always light this huge bonfire, and people sit around it and sing and crap. It's actually pretty fun. But you do all of the other stuff before and after that. It goes all night."

"What time does everything start?" I asked.

"3 pm." He answered, "We don't have much time before-"

"GILLY!"

Someone suddenly came running and jumped onto his back, startling both of us. I prepared myself to judo flip someone.

"Gosh, Molly, don't do that!" Gil laughed as the girl dropped off of his back.

She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight, "Sorry! I just missed you BUNCHES."

I stood there and awkwardly watched as she grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss.

"I missed you, too, Molls." He said lovingly once they'd released their kiss.

I loudly cleared my throat as a reminder that I was still there, not wanting to watch them swapping spit any longer.

"Who's this?" The girl asked, sizing me up.

"This is Nonny." Gil answered, "Him and his mom are living with me at the moment."

"Nice to meet you." Molly greeted me, smiling kindly. She had long, straight hair that was dyed pink (once again, a weird choice of color) and big brown eyes that showed nothing but kindness. Her tan skin showed that she was most likely mixed. Although, I had originally thought that she was Hispanic, but she had no kind of accent, so I wasn't exactly sure what she was. She had paint smears on the front of her shirt and all over her arms and legs, along with one on her left cheek. I had no clue what she could've been painting to get that messy, but she didn't seem to mind.

"This is Molly." Gil introduced her, "My girlfriend."

I nodded at her, not saying a word.

"Do you guys need help with anything?" Gil asked her.

"Yeah, actually, we do." Molly sighed, "We're not sure if we'll be able to finish the banner in time."

So that's what she was painting.

"Nobody can finish things on time around here, can they?" Gil mumbled, then shoved me toward her, "Nonny's going to help you. But I gotta go now. My dad's waiting for me."

"Come on, you can't stick around for even a little longer?" Molly pleaded. I could tell that she really enjoyed being around Gil, but I had the feeling that she didn't get to do that very often. The look in Gil's eyes said that he thought the same exact thing. He wanted to be able to stay, but he couldn't. His dad wouldn't let him. I was getting the vibe that this happened quite often.

"I'll come back after I'm done." Gil told her, kissing her on the forehead, "I promise."

He then turned and ran off, out of the barn and our sight.

"Well," Molly sighed, "Better hope you know how to paint. We don't have much time to get this thing painted and hung up. Come on, I'll introduce you to the others."

She led me across the barn. I have to say, it was a huge place. There was a fairly large stage to our left with a line of about ten microphone stands standing against the wall, with their accompanying microphones laying on table next to them. Strings of lights were stretched across the ceiling almost like Christmas lights, but they weren't colorful. Just regular lights. There was a random stack of hay bales in the corner behind me, but I wasn't sure why it was there. It was a hoedown. There was no telling why I was even there.

Molly and I finally made it to the other side of the barn, where a group of three teens had sat themselves on the floor around a large banner. They were all painting as if they're lives depended on it.

"Where is everyone?" I whispered to Molly.

"They all went home to get ready for the bonfire." She whispered back, then turned to the others.

"Hey guys." She said in order to get their attentions. They all looked at her angrily as if to say 'why are you stopping us?!'.

"This is Nonny. He's here to help us." She introduced me.

"Well grab a brush and get painting, ginger." A blonde girl that sat on the floor told me, "We've got no time to lose."

"Uhm." I said, awkwardly scratching my arm, "Could you please not call me that?"

She looked at me with bright blue eyes, gritting her teeth as if she didn't like to be told what to do. She had a lip piercing on the left side of her bottom lip, which I usually would've looked down upon, but it suited her. Her curly hair was pulled up into a ponytail and her bangs fell in her eyes. She wore a blue bandana around her head like a headband, and it was tied in a little bow-thing at the part of her hair. She herself, along with the other two teens, were all covered in paint like Molly was.

"Deema, please be nice." Molly told her, grabbing her own paint brush and continuing to paint, "We don't want to start any fights again this year."

"Hey, that girl was asking for it." Deema shook her head, not taking her eyes off of the banner in front of her.

"You're the one who was taunting her." A boy with dark skin that sat on the other side of the banner corrected, "She didn't do anything wrong."

"Yeah yeah." Deema said, flicking her brush at the boy, splattering paint on him. They both laughed and he flicked paint back at her playfully. There was definitely something between those two. I could just feel it.

"Hey hey!" The third girl exclaimed, "Stop! You're splattering paint on the banner!"

"Aw. Does Maya feel left out?" Deema asked, butting out her bottom lip and batting her eyes as if imitating a cry baby.

"No, Maya does not feel left out!" The girl answered, talking about herself in the third person, "She just doesn't want you to ruin the banner!"

"You mean like this?" The boy asked, flicking paint at Maya. She balled her fists and growled angrily at him.

"Goby I swear if you do that one more time, I'll slap the-"

"Guys!" Molly interrupted, "Please stop. We only have 20 minutes before they open the gates, and if this banner isn't finished and hung by that time, then we're all going to get chewed out. So please just work."

I silently grabbed a brush and went to the other side of the banner where the boy sat. I knelt on the ground and examined the banner. It read 'Summer' really big in bubble letters, with many elaborate designs and colors. It was clearly almost finished, but it actually looked really nice. It seemed as if it had taken hours of work in order to get this far.

We painted in silence for a couple of minutes, which definitely increased our productivity, but it was definitely an awkward silence.

"I've never seen you before." The boy -Goby- finally said to me, breaking the silence, "Are you new around here?"

I just nodded, focusing on the banner.

"Where are you from?" He asked. I highly doubt he actually cared, but he seemed pretty darn interested.

"L.A." I answered simply.

"I've always wanted to go to L.A." Deema ventured, "I plan to move there when I'm older. My dream is to become an actress."

"But none of us have ever seen anything outside of Marshallville." Maya sighed, her long brunette hair falling over her shoulder, "Not even once."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Why did you move here?" Molly asked, painting a green swirl along the 's' in 'summer', "Like, why Marshallville of all places?"

I almost had a mental break down when I thought she was asking why I moved away from L.A.. I tried with all of my strength to keep my emotions under control at the horrible memories that flashed through my mind. I didn't want to think about it, but they just kept flowing. I needed to get them under control or else I would black out. And I didn't want to have to relive those horrible memories. I pulled myself together to answer Molly's question.

"My aunt lives here." I told them, "She's the only family that we have left."

"We?" Goby asked.

"Him and his mom." Molly answered for me, "They're living with Gil at the moment."

"Why are you living with him?" Deema asked, "I thought you were going to live with your aunt."

I sighed. I didn't like answering all of these questions. It was overwhelming. I didn't like talking about my past, and it was a very difficult subject to avoid with these people asking so many questions. I didn't want to lie, but I didn't want to tell the truth, either.

"She was out of town and her flight got cancelled. She'll be back by tomorrow." I answered as simply as I could.

"Are you going to be working at Rose Petal?" Maya asked, adding the last finishes and touches to her side of the banner.

I raised an eyebrow at her, obviously not knowing what she was talking about.

"Guess not." She laughed, "Rose Petal is a ranch right on the border of Marshallville. It's only open in the summer, and the locals love it there. Most of the teens in Marshallville work there for the majority of our summer break. It's actually super fun."

"Well, he couldn't work there if he wanted to." Deema pointed out, "Rose Petal hasn't been hiring in years. There are no openings.

"What about Avi?" Goby asked, seeming offended somehow that Deema didn't remember him.

"What about him?" Deema asked.

"Oh yeah." Maya remembered, "He quit last year.

"That means there's one opening." Molly concluded, "He could totally work there."

"No no no no no no no." Deema objected, waving her hand in the air, "Ginger seems like a nice guy. I don't want him to go through what Avi went through. Not gonna happen."

"Deema, we don't know why Avi quit." Goby scowled at her, "He won't tell anyone why."

"Oh I have a good reason to believe why he quit." Deema said, anger raging in her voice.

"It wasn't her fault." Molly scorned, "We can't go pointing fingers if we don't know what really happened."

"Molly you know you look down on her just like we all do." Maya shook her head, putting down her paintbrush, "You know that it was her fault."

Molly groaned in frustration and got to her feet, "Let's just hang this banner. The gates open in ten minutes.

Everyone looked at each other, the vibe of their conversation still hanging in the air, and all silently got to their their feet. I did the same.

We all lifted the banner and carried it toward the stage, where we were apparently going to hang it. There were already hooks on the wall above the stage that had most likely been placed there earlier in the day, so all we had to was get a ladder, and hang it up.

"Isn't it just beautiful up there?" Molly marveled as the five of us stood back and admired our art.

"Can we go wash up, now?" Deema complained, "I'm tired of being covered in paint."

Molly sighed, "That's probably a good idea."

...

The 'men' got a lot done in a short amount of time. They'd built up a giant pile of firewood in the very center of the... carnival. Or whatever you want to call it. It had to be about four or five feet tall, but that was still really big for a bonfire. They'd set up bleachers all around it, enough to fit probably 200 people if they squished. This was apparently going to be the highlight of everyone's night.

"This year is going to be best so far." Cliff chuckled as he admired his work.

"You say that every year." Gil recalled, seeming a bit out of breath from lifting so much wood.

"Can you hang out with us now, Gilly?" Molly asked impatiently. Her and the others were now all cleaned up, and it was only a matter of moments before the gates would open.

"Yeah." Deema agreed, leading on Molly's shoulder, "You're the most fun to ride roller coasters with."

"Not if he throws up on you in the middle of it." Maya complained, checking out her nails.

"Hey, that only happened once." Gil shot back, crossing his arms.

"Dude, you've thrown up on me quite a few times." Goby laughed, standing next to Gil. They way that they stood together made it obvious that they were best friends.

"Same here." Molly agreed. If I were her, I don't think I'd be happy if my boyfriend threw up on me, but she didn't seem angered by it.

"You've never thrown up on me." Deema shrugged, seeming proud by this.

"Well then I'll be sure to sit next to you this time." Gil smirked playfully, causing Deema to scoff and cross her arms is disgust.

"Nobody's throwing up on anybody." Cliff intervened, "Gil, you can take some motion sickness pills later to avoid that horrible mess."

Gil laughed to himself as if he knew that he wasn't going to be taking any pills. He thought that throwing up on people was half of the fun.

Suddenly, there was a loud ringing sound that I hadn't heard in a LONG time: church bells.

"Don't church bells usually go off at noon?" I asked, looking down at my phone just to make sure that it wasn't earlier than I thought it was.

"They always set them off at 3 on this day." Maya explained, "To let people know that the bonfire has started."

"We better get into the hay loft." Molly said, glaring uneasily in the direction of the entrance.

"Why?" I asked, following her gaze, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Unless you want to get trampled by a stampede of hundreds of people, I highly suggest it." Gil whispered to me. I realized that they were whispering because they didn't want the adults to hear them. There was something that they were trying to hide. Without a doubt.

"We need to go now." Deema nodded, "Like, now."

They all nodded in agreement and started walking casually toward the barn. In a moment of confusion, I just decided to go along with it and follow them.

"Stay close." Gil warned me. I didn't hesitate to listen.

"Why are we in such a hurry to get into the hay loft?" I asked as we closed toward the barn.

"It's just what we do every year." Goby exclaimed, "It's all cool. Nothing to worry about."

That didn't make me worry any less.

Deema looked back behind us as we walked, "Gil, I think your dad was right. This year is definitely going to be the best year so far."

I didn't understand what she was saying until I looked back. The last thing that I saw before we passed into the barn was the largest mob of people that I'd ever seen in my life.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I stayed up super late just to get this chapter done tonight. SO I DEFINITELY HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT. It's once again another filler XD. But fret not! It gets to the good stuff next chapter!... hopefully. But at least you got to meet most of the other characters in this one. This chapter was just kinda to give some background and introduce people. I feel like this is kinda rushed, but the slow beginning stuff always bores me. So it'll get better as we get further in. I promise!

SHOUTOUT TO MY GIRLS. LOVE Y'ALL.

So, that's all for this chapter! Hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next time! Adios for now people! Peace!


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